Mountains of Mac

Praying for the break-through of faith

08/16/2022

MT 19:23-30 Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and aid, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.” Then Peter said to him in reply, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Last night I attended a very special event at St. Scholastica Monastery. It was the First Profession of Sr. Siena Fisk as a nun in the monastic way of life. The little chapel was not quite full, but the sisters were there as well as many family and friends to support Sr. Siena with lots of love. We all prayed Evening Prayer together, and then the Prioress, Sr. Kimberly, led a brief ceremony of Profession, in which Siena went from being called a “Novice” to being called a “Sister”. This step was a “temporary profession” which lasts for three years. At the end of those three years, Sr. Siena can make a Final Profession to be a nun for the rest of her life, or she can bow out gracefully, “no harm, no foul.”

I find it very sad that most people only talk about the old monastery being demolished and totally miss how the Holy Spirit and the Sisters are still building the new monastery with “living stones” as we read in 1 Pt 2:4-5: “Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings, but chosen and precious in the sight of God.” The first pope, St. Peter, continued: “And like living stones, let yourself be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

Now, there were probably some people who thought Sr. Siena was “wasting her life” becoming a nun, and may even have rejected her. She is certainly a talented, attractive, and very able young woman, with great promise in any career she may have chosen. Why did she choose to a “living stone” instead of an “old stone” that made up the old monastery that was demolished?

I think to desire to be a living spiritual stone and not merely a material “old stone” requires the breakthrough of faith. What does that mean? Well, sometimes we think our true happiness consists in more and more of what we already enjoy: more cheesecake, cooler cars, larger houses, faster wifi! The breakthrough of faith occurs the minute we glimpse that happiness is not just “quantitatively” more but “qualitatively” more than what we have at present. That is what it takes to go from a novice to a sister.

It is like trying to convince a small child who only wants more Coca-Cola and macaroni and cheese that someday he will enjoy a small filet mignon and Cabernet Sauvignon. The child will think a "mountain of mac and cheese” and "rivers of Root Beer" are far better than a little 6 ounce filet and a half-empty glass of Cab. In other words, they still think quantity is better than quality, like people think the “old stones” of the crumbling monastery were better than the “living stones” of the new monastic community.

This breakthrough of faith may help us make more sense of Jesus’ teachings in the gospel today. First, our Lord says it will be very hard for the rich to enter heaven. Why? Well, because the pitfall of the worldly wealthy is to think happiness comes from quantity rather than quality: more material things rather than spiritual things. And second, when Peter asks Jesus what “reward” the apostles will receive for their sacrifices, Jesus answer they “will receive a hundred times more (lands, children, houses, etc.), and will inherit eternal life.”

Why did Jesus answer that way? Because Jesus knows Peter is not ready for the filet mignon and Cab of faith, but still desires mountains of mac and cheese. Peter’s breakthrough of faith will only happen, as it does for all of us, with Jesus’ Resurrection. Only then will Peter see the difference between “quantity” and “quality” in faith, and write a letter about being a “living stone.” After the Resurrection, Peter himself will take the step from being a “novice in the faith” to becoming a “father in the faith.”

My friends, pray for this breakthrough of faith for yourselves, for your children, for the whole world. Sadly, sometimes we only experience it when tragedy strikes and we lose the material things we pinned all our hopes for happiness on. Traumas can teach great truths. But the breakthrough can also unfold gradually, like after two years as a novice, and feeling ready to take the leap of faith and become a sister.

For some of us, that breakthrough will only occur on our deathbed, when we hope for our own resurrection. C. S. Lewis wrote: “But probably this will not, for most of us, happen in a day; poetry replaces grammar, gospel replaces law, longing transforms obedience, as gradually as a tide lifts a grounded ship” (“The Weight of Glory”).

Praised be Jesus Christ!